


Snow Angels

by NanakiBH



Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Age Difference, Christmas, Dysfunctional Relationships, Jealousy, Kissing, Light Angst, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Past Lives, Snow, Soulmates, Teacher-Student Relationship, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2020-12-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:27:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28293813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NanakiBH/pseuds/NanakiBH
Summary: Memories of Christmas.
Relationships: Demyx/Xigbar (Kingdom Hearts), Luxu/Master of Masters (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	Snow Angels

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this before the most recent JP khux update happened and some of the things I wrote at the beginning ended up sounding suspiciously similar to some of the things from that update. ~~That's because I have the Gazing Eye.~~
> 
> Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone~  
> 🎄⛄🐦🎅🐐🎁🎄

Warm...

So unbelievably cozy...

Luxu blearily cracked open one of his eyes to take a peek at the clock on his wall. It was morning, but it was still before the time when he and the other Foretellers would meet, so it wasn't going to be a problem if he closed his eyes for just a little longer... After all, his pillow felt so soft and the arms around him were so warm--...

Both of his eyes snapped open that time. He looked over his shoulder.

“M-Master?!”

The Master mumbled incoherently and sleepily nuzzled the back of Luxu's neck, turning his face toward the pillow to shield his eyes from the morning sunlight. He didn't say anything. After that momentary disturbance, he just kept sleeping. Within seconds, he was lightly snoring.

Suddenly feeling much more awake and aware, Luxu thought back, trying to recall how the Master ended up in his bed. He was still wearing his pajamas. The Master was in his pajamas, too. No funny business had occurred, clearly...

Right...

Luxu couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

The Master had quietly crept into his room in the middle of the night. He appeared next to his bed like a ghost and nearly scared Luxu half to death. The Master told him that it was too cold for him to sleep alone in his room, pouting in that way of his. Hearing him acting like his typical self, Luxu's panic had immediately faded and he'd ended up falling asleep soon after. He assumed that the Master must have taken his silence as consent and squeezed himself into the small space behind him.

Well, it wasn't like he would've turned him down...

It was probably the most comfortable he'd ever been in his life. For someone who often seemed so mysterious and cryptic, the Master had an unexpectedly relaxing presence.

Being wrapped in his warm embrace made Luxu feel like nothing bad could ever happen. Even if he knew that wasn't the truth, the Master's arms made it _feel_ like it was true. For that moment, everything was wonderful, the future was safe, and he was happy.

Pushing aside whatever uncertainty he had, he turned over to face the Master and pressed his face to his shoulder. His pulse raced as he breathed in his scent, warm and inviting. His respect for the Master made that moment feel like something that should have been forbidden, yet it was the Master who had initiated it to begin with.

As he nuzzled into his neck, he could've sworn he saw a smile form at the visible corner of his mouth, but then–

Abruptly, the Master lifted his head, his eyes wide open.

“Oh...!” he gasped, startling his skittish little apprentice for the second time in less than twenty-four hours. He looked down at Luxu with a smile that was practically bursting at the seams with excitement. “Merry Christmas Eve, Luxu~!”

Even though the Master seemed so excited... Luxu had no idea what he was talking about. He nervously returned his smile just to humor him.

“What's that?” he asked.

The Master's perfect smile contorted into an incredulous grimace. “You don't know what _Christmas_ is?! ...Hm, yeah, of course you wouldn't know what Christmas is, huh. Jeez, that's too bad. That's really unfortunate. How old are you? And you've never had Christmas? ...Hm. Maybe that's my fault.”

He still hadn't answered the question.

“Is it some kind of holiday? Or, like... a ritual or something?”

“It's a holiday. But every holiday has its rituals.” The Master held him tightly and rolled onto his back, taking him with him so that Luxu laid on top of him. The change in position left Luxu a bit flustered, but he couldn't deny how comfortable it was... “Okay, so listen to this– There's this guy called Santa Claus. He watches everyone all year and keeps a list of who's naughty and who's nice. If you fall to darkness, you'd definitely find yourself on the naughty list. You're safe for now, okay, Luxu?”

' _For now?_ ' What was that supposed to mean?

The Master forged ahead with his explanation before Luxu could even open his mouth.

“Some people will tell you that Santa isn't real. But he is. You just gotta trust me on this. As long as you've been good and believe in Santa, he'll come down your chimney on the night of Christmas Eve and leave presents under the tree while you're asleep.”

“That just sounds like home invasion. And what's this about a tree?”

“Ugh, you ask sooo many unnecessary questions, Luxu.” He rolled his eyes with a dramatic sigh. “The tree is the Christmas tree! Everyone has one. You decorate it with lights and stars and things. Santa leaves the presents under the tree and takes your cookies.”

“So it _is_ home invasion. He's a burglar. ...But why is he leaving gifts? This guy sounds like some kind of psycho. And how is he watching everyone? That just makes him sound like you.” Luxu stared at him for a hard second. “...Master, is it you? Are you Santa Claus? If you want to celebrate a holiday, you don't have to make up such a weird story to–”

“I'm not making it up!” he cried. He rolled back over, dropping Luxu off next to him. He put his elbow on the pillow and propped himself up. “Think of it like an exchange, okay?” he said, gesturing firmly with his free hand. “You make the cookies, he gives you the presents for being a good boy.”

“So he just... really likes cookies or what?” That didn't sound like a fair trade.

The Master gave a lopsided shrug. “I mean, sure? I guess so. I think he's some kind of altruist. All I know is that I've consistently been on his naughty list and I don't know why. I even confronted him about it and he was like, _'If you don't understand, you just have to figure it out for yourself. I can't give you the answers. Ho ho ho~'_ Who does he think he is?! He gave me this super pitying look, too...”

Luxu hadn't been awake for longer than a few minutes and his day was already unbelievable.

“You've _met_ this guy?”

“Yeah, I told you. When you've lived for as long as I have, you're bound to meet Santa at _some_ point. His world is-... Should I be telling you about this? I wonder if this is gonna mess with something...”

Okay, so it was probably something from the future. That made sense... Sort of.

If the strange story of 'Santa Claus' was a glimpse of what the future was going to be like, then Luxu was more than happy letting the rest remain a secret. He was pretty confident that his brain wouldn't have been able to handle more strangeness on that level, at least not before breakfast.

“If I go back to sleep, I can pretend like everything you just said was a weird dream. Will that help?”

“No!” the Master cried. “You can't go back to sleep now! We have to make Christmas happen!”

Already, Luxu could tell that he was in for another exhausting day. For someone who seemed to favor taking it easy, when the Master had an idea, he really went all in on it.

“But if today is Christmas Eve, then...”

“Exactly!” He pounced on top of Luxu, his eyes sparkling with excitement. “We only have one day to get everything ready. I can, uh, _find_ most of the things we need, so all you and the others have to do is set it all up.”

Luxu's eyes narrowed at the word 'find', wondering what the Master was going to do to procure whatever it was he was talking about. Hopefully he wasn't going to steal anything. But if it was for the sake of putting on a successful holiday that made the wielders happy, then he supposed that his good intentions were all that really mattered. He could've been talking about using magic or some other extraordinary means... But unless the Master chose to elaborate on his own, Luxu was satisfied with accepting the simpler explanation. Stealing could be okay sometimes. Maybe.

Luxu sighed.

“No sighing! Get out of bed and help me!”

“Okay, okay...” He glanced aside, then looked back up at the Master. He didn't want to be rude, but he couldn't get up if he was still sitting on him. “Um, Master... Can you let me get up?”

“Huh? Oh. Yeah. Sure.”

He rolled off of him and tumbled off the side of the bed, miraculously landing on his feet. As if he had no sense of shame, he started taking off his pajamas right there without telling Luxu to look away. Luxu fought with the blankets and got more tangled in them in his haste to get out of bed. If he watched him for any longer, he knew he would have found himself in a different sort of _predicament._

As he was putting on his coat, he looked over his shoulder at the Master who was just zipping his up. (Did he bring his coat with him...? Or...??)

“Master...”

“Hmmmm~?”

“Why do you always hide your face from other people?” Part of him wanted to ask why he was the only exception, but he didn't want to risk sounding presumptuous before he heard the answer to his first question.

His shoulders slumped and he went quiet for a moment. It was probably a bad question...

“...gross...”

It was kind of hard to hear him. Did he say something else?

“Huh?” Luxu finished by pulling up his own hood and rounded around the bed to hear him better.

“... 's gross...”

“What is?”

“...old...”

This was just getting frustrating.

“Are you saying that you don't like showing your face because... you feel old?”

With a loud, annoyed groan, the Master turned away, pulling his hood down lower over his face. “I hate being old! It's gross! Everything about being old sucks! I hate it! D-don't look at me! Just forget you know what I look like, okay?! This isn't how I should look! This isn't me! Uuuugh, why did you even have to ask?!”

“You don't even look that old to me...”

The Master abruptly stopped his wailing and hesitantly took a peek at him.

“R-really...?”

“Y-yeah!”

“You don't sound very confident... You're lying, aren't you...”

Luxu awkwardly patted him on the back. “No, I mean it. You look... I don't know? Middle-aged?”

Apparently that was the wrong choice of words. The Master collapsed to his knees, holding his head in his hands.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!! How COULD you!!”

“Master, if it helps... Nobody would ever guess how old you are based on the way you act.”

He sniffled. He seriously might've been crying. “N-now you're just trying to cheer me up...”

It wasn't really a compliment, but Luxu was glad he took it that way and didn't question it.

It was his fault for making him feel bad, but he wasn't really sure how to make him feel better. The Master could be so fickle sometimes – and so simple at other times. Luxu didn't know when he would've gotten another opportunity to ask him about his hood, but he hadn't realized that the Master would take it so personally. He thought it had something to do with his identity, but... Well, maybe it still did, but it sounded like he was personally more concerned about keeping other people from realizing how old he was.

In a place like Daybreak Town, maybe that was a thing to be concerned about... Being surrounded by youthful children probably made him feel like he was out of place or something. Or... Based on how he acted, maybe he just didn't want to grow up. Maybe he was jealous of the kids.

Luxu sighed.

“You're sighing again...”

“Because you make me feel old,” Luxu muttered.

“Really?!”

Why did he sound so happy about that...?

“Master, if you keep saying things I have to retort to, we'll be here all day.”

“Nobody said you have to retort~ You could just let it go sometimes~”

Luxu held in another retort.

He wasn't going to tell him that he thought he understood why Santa Claus kept putting him on the naughty list.

\-- χ --

“Luxu, come help us,” Ava said, waving for him to come over to where they were busy decorating the huge tree that was standing where the fountain normally was.

When he'd gone off to tell the other Foretellers about the Master's Christmas plans, the Master had disappeared and reappeared mere moments later in the fountain plaza with an improbable number of things for them to decorate with – including that giant tree. Luxu simply accepted that he must have taken advantage of time and space or something. He always had questions, but there probably weren't enough hours in the day for the answers. Sometimes, he wondered whether the Master even possessed the answers or if he was just feeling his way through life...

Naturally, the Master wasn't helping.

He said, _“Just make sure the tree is decorated! Surprise me with the rest~”_ and then he disappeared back inside the clock tower. He promised that he wouldn't use the Gazing Eye because he wanted it to be a real surprise.

Group activities like that really made Luxu feel awkward for some reason. He was one of them, but... Maybe it was just because he spent so much time around the Master, he ended up feeling like an outsider around the others. He much preferred the quiet time he spent with the Master in the clock tower.

It was cold...

His leather gloves weren't warm enough.

His hood wasn't enough to keep the cold air from hurting his ears.

Snow got inside his boots somehow.

“Ugh...”

“Hey, the rest of us aren't complaining,” Aced said. He picked him up by the back of his coat and started hauling him over to the tree. “It's not fair if you just stand there and watch.”

Of course they weren't going to accuse the Master of being lazy.

Luxu stumbled a little when Aced set him down and he stumbled an additional step when Gula 'encouragingly' patted him on the back. “Look at it this way, Luxu,” Gula said, flashing a smug, knowing grin from under his mask. “The better our decorating is, the happier the Master will be. That's the part you care about, right? You can't take any credit if you don't help us.”

“Why do you think he wants us to decorate?” Invi asked.

“Isn't it obvious?” Ava said, poking her head out from around the other side of the tree where she was hanging an ornament. “These decorations will make the wielders smile.”

Luxu had a similar thought, but he refused to believe that he and Ava had come to the same conclusion.

“He just wants to have fun. He's just amusing himself.”

Despite the mask covering her face, Luxu could tell that she was scowling at him due to the displeased frown he was given. “That's not true! He wants you to have fun, too. If you just stand here complaining, then you're just going to disappoint him!”

He wasn't going to admit that she was right. In fact, he was going to go one step further and make sure that they did the best job they could possibly do. It was a matter of pride and principle.

“I never said I wasn't going to help. I'll work on the ornaments with you.” He picked up the box of pine garland near the tree and handed it to Ira. “Ira, you and Aced are the tallest, so take these and string them over the plaza entrance points.”

For a second, Ira looked surprised to suddenly be receiving orders, but then he smiled and gave a nod. “Ah, I see. This makes sense. In order to accomplish this task in a more orderly and efficient manner, the work should be divided evenly among us. What excellent thinking, Luxu! I'll check in with each person periodically to make sure that no one's hands become idle.”

Luxu tipped his head back and looked up to scope out the top of the tree. “We probably should've thought about putting the star on the top of the tree before we started putting the rest of the ornaments on. We could've done the highest parts while it was still laying on the ground... Oh well. Gula, go get a ladder.”

“Why me?”

“You want me to say 'please'...?”

“...Alright, fine.”

Luxu looked at Invi next. She was the diligent type, so she was already a step ahead of him. “I think these wreaths would look lovely on the doors. Shall I be the one to hang them?” she asked.

“That'd be a help, thanks.” Actually, he thought it was kind of cute that she would even ask, as if he was suddenly their leader and they were obligated to take orders from him. He did kind of think of himself as second in command, but there wasn't anything that made that official, just his proximity to the Master.

...Was he more special to the Master than he realized?

“That just leaves the two of us,” Ava said, snapping Luxu out of his daydreams. His nervously racing heart sank to the pit of his stomach when he looked up and saw her smile.

He should've chosen a different job for himself. They were fellow Foretellers, but he didn't like working with her. She rubbed him the wrong way. Everything about her. Her innocent smile, her unassuming personality... The way the Master seemed to treat her so delicately, like she was a precious porcelain doll... That soft, sad smile that seemed to only exist for her...

There was a part of him that wanted to break her.

It was an invasive thought.

Like the strange desire to push a glass off a table just to see how it would shatter.

But if he ever did that, he'd die. The entire world would surely break along with her.

Although he hated to acknowledge it, he saw that she was the glue that held the Master together. She seemed to represent something to him – something the world couldn't exist without.

Luxu would've preferred it if she disappeared, but he comforted himself with the thought that the Master only saw her as what she represented and not as a person.

He silently took one of the ornaments from the box of them and hung it without looking at her.

\-- χ --

It was night by the time they finished. The lights were the finishing touch to tie everything together. The white snow glistened under the moon, and the lights made each little snowflake sparkle like crystal. The plaza received a lot of traffic, so they had to keep telling the wielders where they were allowed to walk; they wanted to make sure that the snow was still in good condition for when the Master came to see. It was a pain in the butt, but it was worth it in the end. Luxu felt confident that they were going to meet the Master's expectations.

When he went back to the clock tower to let him know that they were done, he found the Master asleep at his desk, facedown on the Book of Prophecies with a space heater pointed at him.

“Uh... Master...?”

The Master's head shot up. It sounded like the page he was sleeping on almost ripped out of the book after getting stuck to his forehead. Unconcerned about the book, he immediately pushed back his chair and hopped to his feet.

“Is it ready?!”

“Y-yeah... We just finished the decorating.”

“Yes!!”

The Master had an unexpected amount of energy for someone who'd just woken up. He grabbed Luxu by the hand and dragged him out of the clock tower as if Luxu wasn't the one who'd gone there to get _him._ He knew that the Master was excited about Christmas, but he'd apparently underestimated just how jazzed he was about the whole thing.

When they reached the fountain plaza, the Master was still gripping his hand, and his hold only tightened as he stepped foot in the snow and looked up at the tree full of shining ornaments and twinkling lights. They'd even found themselves a ladder tall enough and had Ira place the star all the way up at the top.

Luxu was frozen the whole time. He could barely feel the tips of his fingers anymore. Working together with the others was tiring, but...

In the end, it was worth it.

He hated to admit it, but Gula was right... In the end, the only thing he cared about was whether it made the Master happy.

The other Foretellers lined up in front of the tree, holding their breath expectantly.

“Guys...! This is amazing!” the Master said, finally releasing Luxu's hand so he could toss his hands in the air. “You did it! A Christmas tree on Christmas Eve! And look at all this snow...!”

In true Master fashion, he flopped down right where he'd been standing and started waving his arms out at his sides.

Though they always expected some level of strangeness from him, that clearly wasn't the reaction the others had been expecting.

“Hey, uh... Master, what are you doing?” Gula asked.

“Making a snow angel!” he said, flapping about. “You're just gonna let this perfect snow go to waste? Come on!”

Without question, Ava cheerfully got down in the snow beside him and followed his lead, spreading out her arms and legs to form a much smaller angel next to him. The others looked at each other in bewilderment but eventually shrugged and apparently decided that there was no harm in joining them. Those four spaced themselves out evenly in front of the tree; Aced and Ira on the outside, Gula and Invi between them.

It was the strangest sight. If any wielders came by at that moment and saw the Master and all of the Foretellers making idiots of themselves, he wouldn't have blamed them if it tainted their image of them forever.

The truth was, they weren't nearly as mysterious or intimidating as the wielders thought.

Yeah, they were keyblade masters. Yeah, they had the future riding on their shoulders.

But...

They were the types who would do whatever an idiot told them.

The Master paused his flapping and looked up at him. “Luxu~ Are you just gonna stand there~? C'mon, it's fun~!”

“I'm not really the, uh, angel type... But...”

He was the type who would do whatever an idiot said, too.

It was so cold...

Teeth chattering, Luxu fanned out his legs and flapped his arms. How long was he supposed to do it for? It sounded like the others were still going. He could hear Aced's raucous laugh and Gula's, almost delirious. When Luxu focused his eyes, he noticed the stars above them, as bright as the lights on the tree, the shining decorations of the deep black night sky. Snow was falling, little delicate flakes landing on his cheeks.

Before he knew it, he was just laying there.

The world felt incredibly small in that moment. The plaza was the Master's snowglobe.

It wouldn't have been terrible if it all faded away right then, Luxu thought. That was probably what the Master wanted – he was probably always looking for the moments that could be called happy endings. Even if they each had their own idea of what he was really like, Luxu thought that was something they could all agree on.

Even if the world wasn't going to end...

Would it have been bad to live every day like it was going to?

Luxu sat up and looked back at the impression he left in the snow. Beside him, Ava and the Master were both just laying there, staring up at the sky the way he had. He wondered if they were thinking the same things, too.

“Well, I did it,” Luxu said. “Are you happy?”

The Master sat up and looked at him with the biggest smile.

“Immensely~”

They each got up and moved aside to appraise their impressions.

Aced's was the funniest. Somehow, it didn't even look like an angel. It was like he'd just flung snow everywhere and even made a mess of Gula's next to his. Invi's and Ira's were predictably the most precise-looking; just the right shape, sharp around the edges like they'd been pressed into the snow by a cookie cutter.

Ava's was so small. Seeing the way it looked next to the Master's much bigger snow angel, Luxu smiled despite himself.

His own angel looked like an angel. He didn't know what he'd expected. It was an angel.

When he looked back at the Master, his breath got frozen in his throat.

It was that soft smile, for all of them. It looked as fragile and transient as the tiny snowflakes that melted on his cheeks.

Luxu wanted to hold on to it, but he knew that it was just going to vanish. In a matter of days, their snow angels would also disappear; they'd be trampled underfoot and then the sun would melt away every remaining trace of them.

“So. What was the moral?” Gula asked.

“...Moral?” the Master asked.

“Told you,” Luxu muttered smugly.

“Huh? Hm? Told them what?”

Ava betrayed him. “He said you only cared about having fun! That can't be true, right...?”

“Oh, uh...” The Master looked away, nervously linking his hands behind his back. “Well, I mean, you all had fun, didn't you~? So what I wanted is irrelevant~”

Holding his chin, Ira nodded understandingly. “I-it may have been a lot of work, but it did result in a night to remember... I certainly can't say it wasn't worth it. We all got something out of it.”

“Exactly!” the Master said, pointing at Ira. “And this isn't the end of it! Didn't Luxu tell you about Santa Claus? Santa will come during the night and deliver presents to all the good boys and girls~ Decorating is an important part of Christmas, but there's a lot more to it, too. Like Christmas songs!”

Invi tilted her head. “There are... songs?”

“Huh? What kind of songs?” Aced asked. “Ones we can sing?”

A dangerous smile was visible from under the shadows of the Master's hood.

“Oh ho ho... There are a _lot_ of songs. And I'm going to teach you all of them!”

\-- χ --

“You're with me today, kid,” Xigbar said, grabbing Demyx by the back of his coat, plucking him off the couch. “We're going to Halloween Town.”

“Wh-what?!” Demyx almost dropped his sitar as he whipped his head around to look up at him with a terrified expression. “No way, come on! I don't like Halloween Town! Haven't they sent me there enough??”

“Haven't you only been sent there _once_...?”

“Yeah, and that was enough!”

Xigbar shook it off. He could tell that he would only get stuck in a familiar loop if he kept arguing with him. It was always easier to pick him up and just take him to where they were supposed to go.

Demyx never cooperated with Larxene. He barely paid attention to any of the others, even if he eventually cooperated with them – reluctantly, of course. Eventually, Saïx realized that Xigbar was the only one who knew how to successfully wrangle him, so the majority of his partnered missions were with the otherwise unpartnerable Demyx.

“You're in luck,” Xigbar said. “We're actually going to Christmas Town. It's just that the easiest way for us to get there is through Halloween Town.”

“Christmas Town?” Demyx's whole demeanor seemed to change upon that revelation. “Christmas Town... Christmas...... Alright, sure! I like Christmas~ I'm willing to brave Halloween Town for it. Actually, you know what? Halloween's not even that bad. It's just that Halloween Town makes it so scary. If you ask me, Halloween should be more about the candy and costumes~”

“I didn't ask. But I guess it's good to know that you have strong opinions about holidays.”

“Right?!”

“I was being sarcastic.”

Demyx made a face. “Jeez, lighten up. You can't go to Christmas Town with that kind of attitude.”

“Next thing I know, you're going to say that you think we should have Christmas here at the Castle. And before you say it, the answer is no. We're not doing that. Decorating takes too much work, the others would never want to help, and we have other things we need to be doing anyway.”

“Awwww, whaaat~? How did you know what I was going to say?”

Xigbar held his tongue. It was way too easy to think of another biting comeback, but if he kept retorting to every stupid thing Demyx had to say, they were never going to leave.

\-- χ --

“Hey, old man, check this out...!”

“Could you stop it with calling me that?” Xigbar said, stepping into the deep snow at the top of the hill overlooking Christmas Town. “Is that your idea of a nickname? Hasn't anyone ever taught you to respect your elders?”

Demyx looked to him with a leer and a grin. “Hm? Does it bother you? Would you rather be young and adorable like me~?” He stepped closer – uncomfortably close – and inspected every line and scar on his face. Appearing to be satisfied with what he saw, he bounced back on his heels, releasing Xigbar from his scrutiny. “You're actually pretty cute for an old guy, you know.”

“Was that supposed to be a compliment...?”

It didn't exactly make him feel better. His appearance was something he tried not to think about, but it bothered him when he thought about how different he looked compared to the way he looked when he first set out from Daybreak Town.

He wasn't sure how much attention the Master had paid to his appearance in the future... Was the Master even going to be able to recognize him?

He sighed.

“I mean it!” Demyx insisted. “I can't imagine you looking any other way. You might be an old guy, but I feel like it suits you. Just like how I can't imagine me looking any other way... Remind me to never get any older!”

“How old are you, anyway?”

“Ugh, Xiggy, that's such a rude thing to ask...” He was one to talk. “Not like I can remember, though~”

Well. He was _childish_ , that was for sure. That would've made for a good comeback, but they had things to do, so--

“Let's go see Santa!”

Before Xigbar could even get another word out, Demyx had summoned his sitar and was already using it like a sled to speedily slide down the hill. He was going to regret doing that when he ran into the Heartless at the bottom of the slope by himself. Served him right for being so brainless.

Not a minute later, Xigbar heard Demyx's embarrassing screams from the bottom of the hill.

Xigbar warped himself the rest of the way and found Demyx being chased around by a horrendous jack-in-the-box Heartless in front of the carousel. He tripped in the snow and was about to get shot in the back by the Heartless's toy(?) gun, but Xigbar took it out with his arrowguns before it got a chance. He quickly dispatched the rest of the smaller Heartless in the area, all the while keeping track of Demyx out of the corner of his eye.

When he was finished, he dismissed his arrowguns and turned to Demyx who was, by that point, just playing in the snow.

“I know you could have taken care of those Heartless,” Xigbar said.

“How many times do I have to say that I don't wanna fight...?”

“You won't even try to defend yourself?”

“I knew I'd be okay, though. You were here to protect me~” He happily clapped his hands, smiling broadly. “My hero~!”

“Well, I think that Heartless was our target. Apparently it was making investigations harder for the others, but it didn't seem that difficult to me. I'll write in my report that you acted as a decoy to lower its guard. Technically not a lie.” He grabbed Demyx by the elbow. “You should be happy. Our mission's already complete.”

“What!” Demyx wrenched himself out of his grasp and jumped back a step. “But we haven't even talked to Santa yet! At least let me knock on his door to see if he's home!”

Xigbar grimaced.

It wasn't his first time in Christmas Town. He'd been there before. Just to find out if what the Master said was true, he'd paid Santa a visit and was frankly shocked to find out that every absurd thing he said was true. He should've known that he wouldn't have made up something _that_ ridiculous... But, as a result of his doubt, Santa told him that he wasn't allowed on the list to receive presents. It sounded like only naïve children made it onto the list, and then the list got even thinner as he divided them based on who was naughty or nice. It was a whole process.

Needless to say, Santa was aware of everything he'd done. In that sense, he really was a lot like the Master. He was always watching... So he was probably the only person in the world who knew about all of his naughty accomplishments.

He kind of wanted to find out if Demyx was on the list...

“Alright, sure. You don't get the chance to meet Santa Claus face-to-face every day, after all.”

“Yes!!”

Demyx ran up to the door and knocked on it and knocked on it and knocked-- And the door was opened by a very disgruntled-looking worker elf.

“Pardon my excitable partner,” Xigbar apologized. “Is Mr. Claus in?”

The elf stared at him. “You...”

“Listen, just-... Can you go get the red guy for us if he's here? I'm beggin' ya not to turn this into a scene.”

Demyx gave him a suspicious look from the corners of his eyes. “Hrm...?”

“I'm right here. You can come in,” came a jolly voice from inside the festively decorated home.

The elf moved aside, allowing the two to step inside where it was warmer. They found Santa sitting in the living room with his reading glasses on, long list in hand, a crackling fire in the fireplace behind him. A strange look crossed his face when he looked up and saw who was there, leading Xigbar to fear that he already recognized him.

Soon, however, he realized that he was actually staring at Demyx.

“You're... Oh dear, not again...”

Placing his hands on his hips, Demyx curiously cocked his head to the side and furrowed his brows. “You already know who I am? I haven't even told you my name yet, though.”

“Yes, but...” Santa appeared to be uncomfortable, nervously clutching his list and shifting in his overstuffed chair to hide the names from them. “I'm afraid you're someone I couldn't forget so easily...”

So there was actually someone who knew who Demyx was... It made sense, but Xigbar was still surprised. Demyx was just so strange, he would've believed it if he was told that he'd come into existence as a pure Nobody who had no previous life as a human with a heart. He knew that wasn't how it worked, but it was hard to imagine him any other way. Like Demyx said, that face, that body... Everything about him was perfectly suited for him.

“Well? Am I on the list? The name's Demyx. D-E-M-Y-X. Double-check to be sure!”

“Please, be honest...,” Santa began, his voice sincere, filled with something that sounded like pity. “Do you really believe that you _deserve_ to be on the nice list?”

Holding his chin, Demyx took a moment to think about his potential misdeeds. “I haven't done any fighting... So... Yeah! Of course! I should totally be on that list~”

He seemed so proud of himself...

Santa looked understandably disappointed. He stood from his chair, rolling up his list, and beckoned Demyx to take another step closer. He beckoned him further still, making Demyx bend down to his height like he had a secret he was going to tell him. Instead, once he had Demyx down there, he smacked him on the forehead with his list.

“Ow! Hey, what the heck!”

“I told you a thousand times, but I'll tell you again: You're never going to make it onto the nice list if you can't figure out for yourself why you aren't on it.” Santa gestured at Xigbar with his scroll of names. “You. You understand where he's going wrong, don't you?”

“ _Me?_ ” Xigbar asked, confused.

With a great, exhausted sigh, Santa sat back down in his chair and straightened his reading glasses to resume his checking of the list. “I believe you're one of the very few who stand a chance of changing him... Good luck.”

_Good luck...?_

“Hold on!” Demyx said adamantly. “I've been good, haven't I? I-I know I got myself mixed up with this shady Organization, but I haven't done anything bad. O-okay, maybe I don't pull my own weight, but that's because I don't want to fight. Isn't that a good thing? So... Where's the problem?! I'm sure there are a lot of people on that list who are way less deserving to be on there than I am! Put me on the list, you miserable old-...!”

“Am I going to have to get my elves to escort you from the premises...?” Santa asked, glaring at Demyx from over the rim of his glasses.

Xigbar realized that if they didn't leave immediately, Demyx was going to end up getting them both permanently banned from visiting Santa's workshop. He bowed his head apologetically and dragged the idiot with him out the door, giving a parting “Merry Christmas” to the worker elf for the sake of politeness before the door was slammed behind them.

Demyx looked miserable.

“What's his problem? I came here with the Christmas spirit and he just dashed it...”

Xigbar watched him sulk.

Was he really that stupid...?

“Demyx... What do you think Christmas is about?”

“It's about... Decorating the tree with lights and ornaments and hanging mistletoe and eating cookies and singing Christmas songs and getting PRESENTS!”

Santa was right. It was hopeless.

Demyx was in love with the festivities, but he was completely missing the meaning of Christmas. The 'reason for the season' was going straight over his head. Unfortunately, that wasn't something they could just spell out for him...

“Whatever. It's not my problem. You can figure it out for yourself.”

“Huuuh?” Demyx's shoulders slumped dejectedly and his stupid pout turned into a real frown. It was probably the saddest look Xigbar had ever seen on his face. For once, something had actually bothered him in a way he couldn't laugh off. “Not you, too... I thought this would be fun... Why's everyone being so mean to me...?”

He sat down in the snow and hugged his knees.

The mission was complete, so Xigbar had no obligation to stick around, but... He couldn't just leave Demyx there.

Santa's words repeated in his head as he watched him. Demyx must have been on the naughty list for a long time for Santa to have sounded that fed up with him. Nevertheless, it sounded like he was willing to keep giving him a chance as long as he figured out how to change his behavior. It was hard to stay mad at someone like Demyx... He wasn't stupid, but he was lacking something. Something prevented him from figuring out where he was going wrong.

He understood Demyx's frustration, though.

And it was, if nothing else, kind of sad to see him in such a pathetic state...

He knew what would cheer him up.

“Do you want to sing some Christmas songs?”

“D-... Do you know any?”

“I know all of them.” He had no choice. The Master made him memorize the whole catalog. “Do you got a favorite?”

At the mere suggestion of Christmas songs, Demyx looked considerably happier. He patted his knees, alternating hands, pat pat pat, and his eyes roamed the snowy sky in thought. “Hmmmm... All I Want For Christmas Is You!”

“Is there something special about that one?”

“Nope! I just like it~ There isn't any deeper reason.”

“That's fine. I didn't expect there to be.”

Whether Santa and the elves liked it or not, a Christmas musical number then commenced outside their home. Xigbar finally found the chance to surprise someone with his singing voice. He and Demyx danced around the carousel until they felt it was time to head back.

He hadn't done anything that ridiculous in a long time...

But it was also the happiest he'd been in a long time.

\-- χ --

“Luxu~ I brought a present~”

Luxu almost screamed.

He was just pulling on the shirt he wore to bed when the Master suddenly appeared from out of nowhere. He hadn't even heard him knock, so he must have _literally_ appeared from nowhere. Probably. Most likely. Unless he wanted to find a new apprentice, he seriously had to stop doing that or else he was going to give him a heart attack. He was too young to die from something like that...

As his terrified heart slowly calmed down, Luxu sat on the edge of his bed and looked up at him. “A... A present? For me?”

The Master revealed what he was hiding behind his back.

“Tada~!” It was a pillow – a particularly large, square pillow that looked like it was stuffed with twice the normal amount of stuffing. “Now I have my own pillow for whenever I wanna sleep in your room~!”

“...That sounds more like a present for yourself.”

“Aren't you happy? It'll stay here in your bed, so even when I'm not around, you can hug it and think of me~”

So arrogant...

Ugh, but... He was right. Luxu loved that idea.

He couldn't even really believe it. The Master's own personal pillow? In _his_ bed? As in, the Master was looking forward to sleeping in his room even more often? That felt so domestic. So personal.

It was going to end up smelling like him... So, on the nights when he was by himself, he could bury his face in that pillow and breathe in his scent, and--

“Luxu...” In one motion, the Master handed him the pillow and pressed against him, squashing it between them. His arms were around his shoulders and his eyes were on him, intense and abyss-like, looking straight into the thoughts behind Luxu's own eyes. “I like you, you know. Sometimes, I think you've underestimated just how much I like you. You're really special, and not just because of the role you'll play in shaping the future. You make me happy. And, I mean...” He glanced away, his expression turning uncertain. “Isn't that what matters? Doesn't life exist for the purpose of finding happiness...?”

What was he saying?

Luxu couldn't understand a word.

Happiness?

Maybe, but...

He had to wonder if the Master understood how to make other people happy. Luxu could tell that he was trying, but, for some reason, it seemed like he wasn't capable of making a selfless effort.

Christmas... The decorations... The pillow...

It was all for himself.

With a morose sigh, the Master released him, taking the pillow with him as he went around the bed. Still in his black coat, he laid down on the other side and stared at the ceiling.

“Do you think I disappointed Ava?”

“I think it all worked out in the end. Nobody complained. ...I was the only one.”

The Master lifted his hood a little so Luxu could see his smile. It looked really worn down. Pathetic. Lovely. It was the kind of smile that made Luxu question whether it was better to be the person who the Master was afraid of disappointing or if it was better to be the one who was allowed to see his real face.

“You aren't going to sleep with your coat on, are you?” Luxu asked.

“Oh... A-almost forgot I was wearing it! It's like a second skin at this point, you know.” He laughed, but Luxu could tell that he was forcing it.

He quickly changed into his pajamas (Did he bring them with him again?) and got back into bed. The pillow looked soft and cozy, but the Master still looked a bit stiff. Luxu got on the bed and bravely crawled to the Master's side. The moment he began to hesitate, the Master grabbed him by the arm and pulled him down on top of him.

When Luxu looked up, he was caught off guard again with a kiss.

It wasn't just a quick kiss, either. The Master held the back of his neck and lifted him up to hold him with his other arm. After having such a long day, Luxu welcomed the relaxing warmth of the Master's arms and the softness of his lips, letting the deep kiss pleasantly turn his brain to potatoes.

“Hey,” the Master mumbled against his lips. “Hey, Merry Christmas, Luxu~”

Luxu laughed.

“Is it already after midnight?” he mumbled back, kissing him again. “Merry Christmas, Master.”

He was happy to be the Master's happiness.


End file.
